Seiko Field Watch

A few weeks ago, I bought the military style SNX431K and like it very much. Military style watches come in different designs and the SNX431K has the right dial and hands combination that I like. Besides looking like a watch for desert ops, it also has a khaki feel to it and matches very well with any khaki clothings.

Subsequently, I bought the black dialed version, SNX427K. Black dial seems to be the de facto dial color for military style watches and military issued watches. I can only get hold of the bracelet version and had to purchase a Seiko nylon strap for it. The watch feels even lighter with the nylon strap.

These watches have 35mm diameter which is probably the ideal size for a ‘field watch’. I find that when wearing the SNX watch, I have less restrictions to my arm compared to wearing big watches. Big watches are like three-tonners. They can’t pass through narrow roads without brushing against anything that gets in the way. Smaller watches on the other hand are like humvees. They are easier to maneuver.

The quality of the metal bracelet is better than what I expected. The outer links are solid while the center links are folded. Links are connected by folded pins. Although not a full solid link bracelet, it is better than those folded link bracelets that come with most Seiko 5’s. By the way, this watch is not a Seiko 5 as it does not have the ‘5’ logo on its dial.

I notice that it does not have a clear water resistant rating as in 50m, 100m etc. It simply says ‘Water Resistant’ on the caseback which I assume is 30m or ‘for washing hands only’ as most watch dealers would say.

This model comes with see-through caseback which I would say is a ‘revised’ edition of the original 7S26-3060 that came with full stainless steel caseback. I managed to borrow a green dialed version of the 7S26-3060 (SKX425) and below is a comparison shot of the two editions.

As you can see, both have the same dial layout so the difference is just the caseback and the thickness. The SNX427K is slightly thicker than the SKX425 which has full ss caseback as illustrated in the pictures below.